TORONTO – CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais used a speech in Toronto to serve notice to rogue telemarketers, spammers, phishers, spoofers and identitiy thieves that the Commission stands ready, willing and able to pursue and punish those who would use technology to attack or even aggravate Canadians.
In a speech some expected would be about the TV policy review or domestic wireless roaming rates or third party broadband access, Blais instead addressed how the Regulator will help Canadians live more freely, securely and peacefully in a digital world. “Technology is now an integral and ubiquitous part of our daily lives. This…
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OTTAWA–GATINEAU – The CRTC has released an “action plan” designed to improve Canadians’ access to current 9-1-1 services and to prepare for a review of next-generation 9-1-1 services.
Next-generation technologies are expected to improve how Canadians communicate with 9-1-1 call centres by enabling them to send text messages, pictures and videos, as well as interact with emergency operators through other means. The CRTC said Wednesday that adoption of these technologies will occur gradually over the next few years, and that it will launch a proceeding in early 2016 to ensure telecommunications service providers’ networks can support new technologies when 9-1-1…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Canadians tired of receiving unwanted telemarketing calls will welcome Wednesday’s decision by the CRTC making telephone numbers registered on the national do-not-call list (DNCL) permanent.
Initially, number registrations with the DNCL were for a set amount of time, after which Canadians would have had to re-register their numbers. Canadians can, at any time, check the DNCL to find out if their number is on the list and, if they wish, have it removed.
"The National DNCL was created to respect the wishes of Canadians who do not want to receive any more telemarketing calls”, said CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais,…
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JUST WHEN I WAS GETTING used to my phone being a TV and my TV being a phone, life got more complicated. Now we're doing business in an era of commonplace digital mashing of both content creation and distribution.
Multi-channel networks like Base79 in the U.K., MakerStudios in the U.S., and Blue Ant here at home, are popping up everywhere – and primarily (but not exclusively) via YouTube. Comcast, according to its VP new services Himesh Bhise, who spoke at the Banff World Media Fest, is all-over this phenomenon…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is giving Canadians a little more time to talk about television.
The Commission said Monday that it has extended its deadline for comments/interventions on its Let’s Talk TV initiative by two days – from June 25 to June 27, 2014. It will give many of the companies a bit more time to put the finishing touches on what will be thousands of pages of submissions and research.
The deadline for submitting translated versions of any documents has been extended to July 14, 2014.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC will be awarded Public Service Awards of Excellence at a ceremony this fall in the areas of Official Languages, Employment Equity and Diversity, and Policy.
The Public Service Award of Excellence recognizes employees who have demonstrated excellence in achieving results for Canadians and who reflect the priorities of the public service, while demonstrating key leadership competencies.
The Commission said Thursday that CRTC employees will receive an award in the Official Languages category for the high degree to which the use of English and French was promoted in all aspects of the CBC/Radio-Canada licence renewal proceeding. Throughout…
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TORONTO – There were no federal politicians that we could see in the audience at the Canadian Telecom Summit on Wednesday and just a handful from the CRTC and Industry Canada, but the message sent by new Quebecor CEO Pierre Dion was certainly meant for the ears of those in charge in Ottawa:
If the CRTC moves to dramatically lower the roaming rates the Big Three extract from smaller wireless newcomers to roam on their networks in Canada – and if Industry Canada can fix the tower sharing problems with better rules, Vidéotron will be that fourth national wireless company…
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TORONTO – Wind Mobile Canada has never been so candid, or detailed, about its numbers.
During his luncheon keynote Tuesday, Wind CEO Tony Lacavera released subscriber, ARPU and various other metrics that make Wind, now with about 740,000 Canadian customers, look like a growing, viable, business – despite the hundreds of millions in debt owed from 2008 spectrum purchases and its network build since then.
But there’s a method to that data dump. Wind needs investors. With its foreign backer Vimpelcom having written Wind Canada’s value down to zero, that gave license to pundits, analysts and competitors…
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OTTAWA – The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and the Consumers’ Association of Canada (CAC) have filed a joint application challenging the wireless device deposit programs offered by Rogers and Telus.
According to the press release, the Rogers “NEXT” and Telus “T-Up” programs require subscribers to pre-pay a monthly fee in addition to their usual service charges for at least 12 months. These payments, which range from $17 to nearly $30 a month, claims the application, go toward the partial cost of a new cellphone. If the customer stays subscribed and returns their old phone and signs a new two year contract,…
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GATINEAU – Quebec lawyer Yves Dupras has been appointed as a full-time member of the CRTC, designated for the Quebec Region, for a five year term effective August 11, 2014.
Dupras has been a senior business and securities lawyer with the Montreal law firm Spiegel Sohmer Inc. since 2010. He has over 30 years of experience in the areas of business, entertainment, media, communications, and strategic and regulatory affairs, and served on the CRTC as a part-time member in 1992 and as a full-time member for the Quebec Region from 1993-1998.
"I am pleased that Mr. Dupras is joining the CRTC…
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